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Published Nov 2008
464 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
A couple, long married, are spending an unaccustomed week apart. Amotz, an engineer, is busy juggling the day-to-day needs of his elderly father, his children, and his grandchildren. His wife, Daniella, flies from Tel Aviv to East Africa to mourn the death of her older sister. There she confronts her anguished seventy-year-old brother-in-law, Yirmiyahu, whose soldier son was killed six years earlier in the West Bank by "friendly fire." Yirmiyahu is now managing a team of African researchers digging for the bones of man’s primate ancestors as he desperately strives to detach himself from every shred of his identity, Jewish and Israeli.
"Yehoshua's descriptions of life in Israel are full and revelatory, and his despairing view of entrenched resentments becomes a stirring plea for empathy and rationality." - Publishers Weekly.
"Starred Review. The search in Africa for the sources of human existence contrast and complement the everyday struggles and joys in Israel. Another tour de force by Yehoshua." - Library Journal.
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Photo: Dina Guna
One of Israel's preeminent writers, Abraham B. Yehoshua was born in Jerusalem in 1936 and lived in Haifa. He was among the most widely recognized Israeli authors internationally, and best known as a novelist and playwright.
He was the recipient of Israel's top cultural award, the Israel Prize, in 1995, along with dozens of other awards, including the Bialik Prize and the Jewish National Book Award, and his work was translated into 28 languages. He died in June 2022, aged 85.
Name Pronunciation
A.B. Yehoshua: Y-HOE-shua (the A is for Abraham, but he is always referred to as A.B.)
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